Submitting tail photos like this
allows us to track humpback behaviour and population size. Note the
diversity in colour patterns, which can range from all black to all
white. We look at subtle differences in the shape of the tail and at
scars when the colour patterns prove to be confusing.

We will not be expanding the
collection of tails in this section. Rather we will be cooperating
with Allied Whale and some new on-line directories of humpback tails
at Flickr and elsewhere to highlight useful matches of whale tails
sent to us by travelers and tour boat operators.